The last couple of days have resulted in some moments for Giants twitter to once again talk about Daniel Jones and his contract. It is hard to look at his contract right now and say it looks like it is a good contract. The NFL salary cap is not projected to go up as much as expected and The Giants are projected to have roughly $22M going into the off-season. I do not think that this is a big fault on The Giants because we are in a league average cap situation, but I do think players see $47M going to 1 player that could be better spend elsewhere.
I have been a VERY big critic of Daniel Jones, but I am going to defend him here for a little. I do not think the issue anyone has is with Daniel Jones, but more with Joe Schoen and The Giants – which is probably worse. Saquon is a very big leader and probably the most liked person in that locker room. It isn’t crazy for players to be upset that it is likely that he will be leaving this off-season. Especially when Joe Schoen basically said that we would not have an offense without Saquon Barkley during the bye week this season.
The first thing that happened was Kayvon saying that he is mad they didn’t pay Saquon before Jones. You see the tweets I put out and I already explained I think their issue is not with Jones, but with Schoen. A lot of people are conveniently leaving out the “I believe In Daniel Jones” part of the quote.
Kayvon does very clearly believe Saquon is a more crucial part of the offense compared to Daniel Jones. He does not hide that at all. But I do think he is trashing Daniel Jones or saying he doesn’t deserve his contract. He probably sees that Jones may not be the future of this team and his contract will likely allow two captains who are well liked in the lock room walk away in free agency (Saquon & McKinney). I think that is what he is mad at above everything else.
The next thing that came out was Beasley tweeting at Saquon to come to the Cowboys to “run it up on your old team who disrespected you”. You see the tweets. This is something I have issue with. Disrespected? In what world was Saquon disrespected?
Saquon is absolutely a top 10 running back in the NFL. Saquon is acting like The Giants made no effort to extend him last year. They gave him a MASSIVE contract offer over the bye week that he did not accept and he played worse the second half of the season. Schoen then gave him contract comps to Henry and Nick Chubb, but Saquon thought he should be comped to Kamara and CMC. Saquon bet on himself two times and failed both times.
In a season where Saquon wanted to prove he is an elite receiving weapon, he had his worst receiving season of his career. Ever since Saquon tore his ACL, he has not had that extra gear to break those huge TD runs we saw so often his first couple of seasons. Not just that, he does not make people miss NEARLY as much as he used to.
Saquon is now 27 years old and is looking to get 15/year for 3 years. I hope he gets that, but The Giants are simply not in position to give that contract out. A big reason comes back to the Jones contract taking up such a large number. Schoen could be worried to back-load the contract (which he would have to do) if he regresses (which he likely would) and his contract would take up a large cap hit for a RB room. I do think there is a real chance that no one gives Saquon what he is looking for and he is willing to take slightly less to stay in New York.
The players in the locker room are not stupid, they know what is happening. I do not think this is an indictment on Daniel Jones. I do think that it could become one if next season goes terribly as well.
A Fan With A Mic 
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